Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn) hosted a meeting with the commanding officer of Brooklyn South, other law enforcement representatives, drug prevention and treatment groups and stakeholders in the Jewish community last week to talk about an issue that’s rarely discussed out in the open: drug addiction among young people in the Orthodox and Sephardic Jewish communities.

“Too many people, including families within the Jewish community, don’t believe that such a problem could even exist here, or they’re simply unaware of the extent that the opiate crisis is devastating families not just in their own community but all over New York State and across the entire nation,” said Assemblyman Cymbrowitz, Chair of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee.

“The tragic reality is that this is a serious problem that can’t be ignored or hidden. Prescription painkillers and heroin are destroying Orthodox and Sephardic kids the same as everywhere else. An addict is an addict no matter where you live,” he said.

Assemblyman Cymbrowitz said the purpose of the meeting, held in his district office, was to assemble law enforcement, experts from drug treatment groups and other leaders in the Sephardic and Orthodox communities with the goal of encouraging them to work together to address the community’s youth opiate problem, including teaching families how to prevent and seek help for a child’s addiction.

Those in attendance from law enforcement included Assistant Chief Owen Monaghan, Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South; Deputy Inspector James Rooney, C.O., and Det. John Nevandro and P.O. Thomas Hopkins of the 60th Precinct; Captain Hayward and Community Affairs Officers Samuel Shaya and Benjamin Go of the 61st Precinct; and Capt. Cani of NYPD Narcotics.

Leaders from the drug prevention/treatment community included Ruchama Bistritzsky-Clapman, Founder of MASK (Mothers and Fathers Aligned Saving Kids); Ike Dweck, Executive Director, and Abe Chera of the SAFE Foundation; Vickie Griffiths and Sharon Darack of JACS/JBFCS (Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons and Significant Others/Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services).

Also in attendance were Avi Spitzer of Sephardic Community Federation and Jake Adler of the Orthodox Union.

Stories of heartbreak were recounted at the meeting, such as the 15-year-old boy who ran away from home and a 13-year-old girl who was picked up by police from a street corner at 2 a.m. Both teens were from observant Jewish families, and both were addicted to drugs. Ruchama Clapman of MASK said she’d been to five funerals in recent weeks. All of them were for kids.

Assemblyman Cymbrowitz made the substance abuse providers aware of a new Request For Proposals (RFP) issued by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) that will make up to $15.7 million available for New York City community-based alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs serving youth in the five boroughs. As the most populous borough, Brooklyn will receive the largest allocation, $5,080,340. He encouraged the groups to apply for the valuable funding.

Assemblyman Cymbrowitz called the meeting “extremely productive” and said the groups would come together on a regular basis to update each other and bring new ideas to the table. He said that for law enforcement in particular, the meeting was eye-opening and provided new insight regarding a problem that has existed largely under the police radar.

“When you have the chief of Brooklyn South saying he’ll be happy to commit resources and time to speak to parents and actively support the community in saving drug-addicted kids, that really means something,” he said.

(YWN Desk – NYC)